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1957 United States Football League
On February 15, 1957, Millard T. Lang, an official with the Westinghouse Corporation and owner of the American Soccer League's Baltimore Rockets, told reporters that he planned to organize a new professional football league to operate independently of the 12-team NFL. Rather than enlisting owners before the announcement, Lang announced that he had written letters to the mayors of 16 American cities "inviting them to participate in the organization of the league." ("Soccer Prexy Seeks to Form New Pro Football League", Racine Journal Times February 15, 1957) His plans were for two 8-team divisions, with Baltimore, New York, Buffalo,Boston, Cincinnati, Detroit, Milwaukee and Minneapolis in the Northern Division and Miami, Atlanta, New Orleans,Louisville, St. Louis, Kansas City, Houston and Dallas in the Southern Division. Lang was apparently motivated by the formation of the NFLPA as a labor union for NFL players, and the problems encountered by the union in attempting to get recognition as the collective bargaining agent for the players. Although the NFL had teams in Baltimore, New York and Detroit, and the Packers played half of their home games in Milwaukee, Lang said, "We certainly do not plan to run headlong into the National Football League. Our schedule would be worked out so that we would play either at night in midweek or on the weekends when the NFL teams are away." Lang said also that the league would differ from the NFL by "offering a brand of football more closely paralleling the college game" and that "Our players would be two-way boys-- play both offense and defense."' and that players taken in the USFL draft "could play for whomever they wanted." NFL Commissioner Bert Bell's comment was "That's fine. Let him go ahead. There is no reason they shouldn't form another league. We welcome competitive bidding for players. We have to bid against Canada now. Another one won't make any difference." ("Second Pro Grid League Proposed",AP report in Lima (O.) News, ''February 16, 1957, p9) After receiving "encouraging replies" in letters from various mayors, Lang announced that he had scheduled a meeting of prospective owners on April 6 at an unidentified Baltimore hotel ("Plans Made to Organize New Pro Football Loop", AP report in ''El Paso (TX) Herald Post, March 29, 1957). On the eve of the meeting, Gerald H. Cooper, the USFL's secretary-treasurer, said that he was "fairly certain" that an eight-team league would operate in 1958 and that it would cost $400,000 for a team to operate in the USFL ("New Pro Grid League Talked", UPI report in Lubbock (TX) Morning Avalanche April 6, 1957). When April 6 arrived, however, it was a case of "Suppose they gave a war and nobody came?" because representatives from only two cities-- Baltimore and Detroit-- attended the organizational meeting ("New Pro Football League Organizes", AP report in Denton (TX) Record Chronicle April 7, 1957) Lang attempted to put a positive spin on the lack of attendance by claiming that prospective owners who hadn't shown up had "asked by telephone or telegrams to be included" and implied that they were from Little Rock, Louisville, New Orleans, New York and Minneapolis. There were no further USFL reports in the press after the failure of the Baltimore meeting.